Determining whether certain goods represent stolen property, and further identifying specific stolen property has been and continues to be a challenging problem. For example, vehicle theft and the resale of the stolen property is an enormous business. While vehicles have an identification number which would-be buyers or law enforcement personnel can check to see whether a particular vehicle is stolen, a large percentage of the stolen vehicles are dismantled and the components sold. Further, many vehicle components are initially stolen separately. Major examples in this latter category are stereo sets and vehicle seats. Currently, Toyota truck seats of a particular type happen to be a popular item for stealing. While stereo sets often have identifying numbers, vehicle seats normally do not. Further, even if a component has an identifying number, a thief may deface an obvious number or remove that portion of the component.
A need exists for a reliable, practical and reasonably priced system for marking items and for identifying property, particularly stolen property, and it is the object of this invention to provide such an improved system.